If you were not discouraged enough with life on earth last night, you should have tuned into “Last Days on Earth” on ABC’s 20/20. I was watching U.S. Open tennis, but I kept switching back to ABC and watching pieces of this program during changeovers.

It was an enjoyable 2 hours full of doom and gloom, with scientists weighing in on what catastrophic events could lie in our future and how the world might end. It featured your favorite end-of-days possibilities - asteroids hitting the earth, plagues such as avian flu, supervolcanos, the earth being sucked into a black hole, and, of course, climate change. There seemed to be very little optimism among these men and women. Most of these events, they say, would end life altogether, and in some cases destroy the planet. And in some of the scenarios, we would be helpless to prevent it.

If you missed the program last night, have no fear (well, not yet, anyway) - you can order it on DVD and anytime you feel just a little too merry, just pop it in and depress the hell out of yourself.

Mike has “book tagged” me, and therefore I’m supposed to post my list of books according to the categories below (as it seems everyone else is doing these days.) I have to say that I didn’t like to read growing up. Other than my Bible, I avoided reading anything that I wasn’t required to by school (except for various sports-related magazines and the sports page from various newspapers - and those don’t really count. Oh, yeah, and Mastering Pac-Man, but I won’t count that either.) After I graduated college, I ended up reading a little here and there, and eventually became an avid reader. So, now that I’ve been reading pretty regularly for about 15 years, here’s my list:

1. One book that changed your life:
   It’s hard to pick just one that had a big impact. I am inclined to begin with No Wonder They Call Him The Savior by Max Lucado simply because it was (to the best of my knowledge) the first book I ever read on my own, and prompted me to begin reading more. I also liked it a lot at the time, and Max didn’t sound like the typical CoC preacher I’d heard growing up (which was a good thing). Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel was an earlier one as well. More recently, I’d say Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship and Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families because they caused me to think about and see things differently than I had in the past, and caused me to read other books I might not otherwise have read. Also, I’d have to throw in Erwin McManus’ Seizing Your Divine Moment with those as well, as there were some things in there that changed my perspective, too.
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
   The Jesus I Never Knew, Disappointment With God, and probably a couple of others by Philip Yancey. I like his stuff.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
   It might depend on my state - if I’m stuck there, maybe something related to boat and/or raft building. Other than that, I would likely go with something fiction - maybe Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird or Lewis’ Narnia books, but most likely Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
4. One book that made you laugh:
   Jim Mullen’s It Takes A Village Idiot was pretty funny. Also, any of Tony Kornheiser’s books - he makes me laugh.
5. One book that made you cry:
   Walking Taylor Home : A Fatal Disease, A Father’s Love, and a Son’s Courageous Journey by Brian Schrauger. My sister and her family in Nashville knew this family. Taylor was 11 years old, I believe, when he finally was taken by cancer. Reading his father’s words throughout and after that experience was a very emotional book for this father to read.
6. One book you wish had been written:
   Simple Driving Etiquette (or, How To Drive When Other People Are Also On The Road). It seems that everyone else who occupies the roads when I do could benefit from such a book.
7. One book you wish had never been written:
   Anything that Christian retailers go nuts with by hyping it up far beyond what is warranted and creating all types of “Jesus Junk” based on it. The Purpose-Driven Life and The Prayer of Jabez come to mind as more recent examples. (Jabez was short, I read it, didn’t think much of it. I tried twice to read PDL, neither time making more than about 10-15% through before abandoning it.)
8. One book you’re currently reading:
   God’s Gravity : The Upside-Down Life of Selfless Faith by Craig Borlase. Very good so far.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
   I was trying to think of something that I’ve been meaning to read the longest. I purchase from eBay over the last few years the trilogy by Taylor Branch on the Civil Rights movement and have yet to get to them. So, I’ll go with the Branch trilogy - Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire and At Canaan’s Edge.
10. Tag five others:
    Okay, can’t really do that. Nearly all of the people I might tag either have already been tagged or don’t have a blog. So, I won’t “name names“, but if you’re reading this, feel free to consider yourself “tagged”. And if you don’t have your own blog, post your list in a comment here (and it’s possible that as many as 3 people will see it.)

Is New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin as stupid as he (repeatedly) sounds?

Here’s several sports items I thought I’d mention.

U.S. Open

The U.S. Open started today, and having the day off I managed to watch a little of it. Not much excitement on day one, but I will be watching shortly as Andre Agassi takes the court to begin his final U.S. Open. I thought Andre might walk away after nearly winning last year, but he’s back for one more. I would love nothing more than to see him, like Pete Sampras a few years ago, win the title in his last Open, but I think it will be even more difficult that it was for Sampras or than it was to reach the final last year. Regardless of where he finishes, I believe he’ll finish strong and tennis fans will mourn the fact that Andre will no longer be playing. I know I will.

Donovan: Don’t show me the money

At least not yet. I have to say, I’ve never really liked Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan. Primarily because, in the coaching family tree, Pitino begat Donovan, and, of course, I’ve never really liked Pitino in the past. However, I have to say I’m a little closer to liking Pitino since he’s been at Louisville. How can you not like a guy that not only leaves Kentucky, but then a few years later returns to coach at their biggest rival?

I saw this article this weekend about Donovan and part of me thought maybe he’s not as evil as I’d always assumed. Donovan is postponing a contract extension at Florida. Donovan and the Gators just won the national championship, and he’s now one of the biggest names in the game - I suppose the biggest of this past year. He could probably get whatever he wanted from Florida - or, if they refused, from most other big time programs in the country. But he’s postponing it for his players, many of whom could have left college for the NBA - and Joakim Noah could possibly been the #1 pick. They gave up a lot of money to return, so Donovan is doing likewise. He will not sign a contract extension right now. His players, he says, are making sacrifices to return next season. He won’t feel comfortable unless he does the same.  Granted, Donovan’s not giving up all of his salary.  Just more.  He’s doing alright without the extension.  But still, you won’t see something like that very often.

Even though I’ve I’ve never liked him, I have respected him and expected him to become a great coach at the college level. And I believe if he’s not already there, he’s at least very close. I think he’ll win another title someday, although I don’t know if they’ll be able to repeat, despite having all of their talent back. This kind of thing happened more regularly 10 or more years ago. In 1991, UNLV returned nearly all of their talent and after winning the title but could not repeat, falling short at the final four. A year later, Duke won their second in a row with the same talent for the first (and still only) time since the UCLA team of 1973. Three years later, Arkansas returned their talent but fell short in the title game.

A few other teams have had a lot of talent back, although not as much as Florida is returning. Kentucky’s team in 1997 was very good as well, but some of their talent was reloaded, I believe. They’d lost a few guys from the 96 team. Duke’s 2002 team had most of it’s talent back, but also was not as good as the previous year, because Shane Battier was the key player on the 2001 team, and he was gone. Most of the title teams have lost key players over the last 10 years or so, and that’s made it more difficult to repeat.

This year, Florida will have the best chance to repeat - based strictly on returning players - of anyone in the last 10 years. But, I think the road will be more difficult for them. It’s hard just to return to the final four these days, much less win it all again. But regardless of how their season goes, I’ll have to respect the Gator team - including their coach - a little bit more. They all could have said “show me the money”, but instead they’re just where they were last year. Well, maybe there’s one exception - this year everyone knows what they can do, and they’ll be a little more ready for them. Whether that will matter, we’ll see next April.

Williams to return to NBA?

Jay (formerly Jason) Williams, who played at Duke during those 2001 and 2002 season I just mentioned, is apparently considering an offer from the New Jersey Nets to attend their training camp and attempt to make it in the NBA again.

Williams was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in 2003 after his rookie season and has not played since. Duke players have had some tough luck in the NBA from time to time. Grant Hill continues to battle injuries and has never really been able to fully become the player everyone expected him to be. Bobby Hurley, like Williams, was badly injured in an auto accident during his rookie season and never was able to do much after that. And most recently, Williams’ accident took him out of the league.

I always thought Williams would be a very good player in the NBA. I thought he had the skills to play for a long time, but the accident has changed all of that. I don’t really know how he’s doing physically, having been out of touch with his progress the last couple of years. According to the article, he’s certainly lost something - as is to be expected - but it sounds like he may still have what it takes to play in the league. I hope to see him out there this season.

I’ve had more time to post the last few days but have found other things to do. I took off work Friday and today - the first time I’ve taken off more than 1 day at a time this year, and haven’t really felt like sitting down to type anything. However, I’ve several things lined up now that I’ll probably post about over the next couple of days.

I’ve done a little reading and managed to finish Don Miller’s book To Own A Dragon. I enjoyed it, as I usually do Miller’s books, but this one didn’t quite hit me the same as Blue Like Jazz or Searching For God Knows What. I’m not sure why. Perhaps the subject matter - growing up without a father, which I did not do - but I don’t think it was that. It may have been me not being in the right frame of mind for it. Sometimes I read a book (or maybe just start a book) and it doesn’t do much for me, but later I’ll finish it or read it again and I love it. It’s also possible that I read through it too fast, as I occasionally do. Nevertheless, it’s still a good book worth reading and if you like his other stuff, you’re sure to like this one as well.  There’s some good stuff in there.

I’m also continuing to read through Craig Borlase’s book God’s Gravity, taking it a little slower. I read this passage this morning and wanted to share, as he is discussing Matthew 25:

It’s all about the sheep and the goats. After Jesus was done encouraging His disciples to open their eyes and see the bigger picture, to treat every day as one that counted and not to slack in their faith, He got a little agricultural. He described God’s final judgment like the separation of sheep and goats by the shepherd. They - we - will be put into one of two groups. Those on one side will be welcomed, while those on the other will not. Instead, “they will go away to eternal punishment.” (Matt. 25:46)

There should be an obvious question forming in a brain cell near you right now, one that asks something like “How do we get on the right side?” There might be an answer kicking about there too, one that goes along the lines of “If you’ve signed up already, you’re in.” And that’s where it all gets a little bit tricky. You see, according to Matthew’s retelling of Jesus’ story, the sole criterion to spending eternity with God is this: responsibility. Did the people feed the poor, befriend the stranger, clothe the naked, help the sick, or support the oppressed? If so, they made it through. If not…they didn’t.

According to Jesus’ story, what God wants is to see us looking beyond ourselves, noticing and responding to the needs of others. And not just any old set of “others” - not just the nice pretty ones who might be able to get us some kind of promotion or recognition if we treat them right - but the other sort of others. The least. The lost. The last. The outsiders. The outcasts. The wrong people. The sort of individuals from whom our cozy lives continually keep us insulated. They are the ones we must care for. They are the people God’s gravity draws us toward.

It’s strong stuff, isn’t it? Does it leave you feeling a little nervous? Does it leave you with doubts about how your lifestyle matches up? It does for me. And I think that’s Just the way God likes us - feeling uncomfortable at the thought that this small world into which we are tempted to retreat will really do us no good at all.

“Leading astronomers” have declared that Pluto is no longer considered a planet according to new guidelines. There was no mention of Uranus.

As I mentioned last week, I recently purchased a pair of tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld in a few weeks. My wife and I have an anniversary coming up and it is our gift to each other. We saw Jerry live about three years ago when we were living in Huntsville, Alabama, and it was a great show. We can’t wait to see him again.

So, this weeks Seinfeld list is my favorites of the recurring characters. These are the folks who really made this show. The foursome were great, and with them alone it would’ve been a great show. But these folks added to the show a little something from week to week that made it possibly the best ever.

Favorite Recurring Characters

1. Newman (Wayne Knight)
   First appeared in episode “The Revenge” (1991)
   There’s just nobody else that could top this list besides Newman. As Jerry’s nemisis, he appeared in more episodes than any other recurring character (over 40 episodes), and was always hilarious. One of my favorite Newman scenes is the JFK-like re-enactment of he and Kramer allegedly being spit on by Keith Hernandez in “The Boyfriend”.
2. Morty Seinfeld (Barney Martin)
   First appeared in episode “The Pen” (1991)
   I loved Barney Martin as Morty. He just cracked me up nearly every time he appeared on the show. Morty actually appeared in the show’s second episode, but was played by a different actor. Martin was Morty for the rest of the series and he was just fantastic.
   Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller)
   First appeared in episode “The Puffy Shirt” (1993)
   Like Morty, a different actor was used in Frank’s first appearance, after which Jerry Stiller played the role for the rest of the series. Stiller is just hilarious, and it was hard to choose between him and Martin for #2, so I chose them both. I remember him fondly every December 23rd - “a Festivus for the rest of us!”
3. David Puddy (Patrick Wharburton)
   First appeared in episode “The Fusilli Jerry” (1995)
   Puddy is the dimwitted mechanic and off-and-on boyfriend of Elaine. Known for answering questions with “Yeah, that’s right”, a few of my favorite moments included the face-painting, the 8-ball jacket, and the entire episode when Elaine finds out he’s religious. When Elaine describes hell, attempting to convince him he should be trying to save her, he responds with an expressionless “It’s gonna be rough.”
4. J Peterman (John O’Hurly)
   First appeared in episode “The Understudy” (1995)
   Peterman plays Elaine’s rather eccentric boss in the latter years of the show. He temporarily flees to Burma (”You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me”) and later returns to save his company from Elaine’s mismanagement.
5. Jackie Chiles (Phil Morris)
   First appeared in episode “The Maestro” (1995)
   Phil Morris also did a tremendous job as lawyer Jackie Chiles. He appeared in several episodes and was a parody of attorney Johnny Cochran, who rose to national fame during the show’s run. Jackie was Kramer’s lawyer on several occasions, being known for his vocabulary and being unaware of the “Good Samaritan Law” (”You don’t have to help anybody. That’s what this country’s all about. That’s deplorable, unfathomable, improbable.”)
6. Mickey Abbot (Danny Woodburn)
   First appeared in episode “The Stand-in” (1994)
   I loved Woodburn’s “Mickey”. He and Kramer provided some funny moments in the show, among my favorites being in “The Burning” when they are hired to act out various diseases for medical students to diagnose. “Cirrhosis of the liver with jaundice! Alright, I get to wear make-up!”
7. Kenny Bania (Steven Hytner)
   First appeared in episode “The Soup” (1994)
   Jerry’s fellow-comedian Kenny Bania appeared in several episodes and always provided a few laughs for me. Steven Hytner did a great job with this role, and in one episode Jerry actually becomes his mentor. “Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it round-tine. That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!”
8. Poppie (Reni Santoni)
   First appeared in episode “The Pie” (1994)
   Restaurant owner Poppie appears in a few episodes and his no-hands-washing, anti-abortion, couch-urinating ways provide a number of laughs. Santori was hilarious as Poppie, who was known for his strong views on abortion and his lack of hygiene (as Jerry said, “Poppie’s a little sloppy.”)
9. Uncle Leo (Len Lesser)
   First appeared in episode “The Pony Remark” (1991)
   Len Lesser appears earlier than any other of the supporting/recurring characters (along with Liz Sheridan as Helen Seinfeld). One of my favorite episodes with Leo is “The Bookstore” where he’s stealing books from Brentano’s. Leo’s response to Jerry’s confronting him regarding his theft? “You still say ‘hello.’”
10. Cedric and Bob (Yul Vasquez as Bob)
    First appeared in episode “The Soup Nazi” (1995)
    Cedric and Bob appear in 3 episodes, most notably as the armoire-stealing “street toughs” in “The Soup Nazi” . Actually, Cedric is not particularly funny, sort of boring - it’s Bob and his Puerto Rican accent that get all of the laughs. “Was you talking to him, or was you talking to me? Who?!? Who was you talking to?!?”

Honorable Mentions

• Jack Klompus (Sandy Baron) 2001
  First appeared in episode “The Pen” (1993)
  The Jack Klompus character was in many ways to Morty Seinfeld what Newman was to Jerry. I loved every Klompus appearance.
• Babu Bhatt (Brian George)
  First appeared in episode “The Cafe” (1991)
  The Pakistani restaurant owner who Jerry first drives out of business and later gets deported. Initially says Jerry is a “very good man”, but later switched to “very bad man”.
• Helen Seinfeld (Liz Sheridan)
  First appeared in episode “The Pony Remark” (1991)
  Jerry’s mom, done perfectly by Liz Sheridan. I thought her best was in “The Pen”. She was great in that episode.
• Tim Whatley (Brian Cranston)
  First appeared in episode “The Mom and Pop Store” (1994)
  Dentist friend of the foursome, who Jerry claimed converted to Judaism for the jokes. Also known for “re-gifting.”
• Justin Pitt (Ian Abercrombie)
  First appeared in episode “The Chaperone” (1994)
  Elaine’s second boss on the show, to whom she was a personal assistant. He had his own quirks, though not as many as Peterman. Favorite Mr. Pitt moment was, of course, when gets the ink on his upper lip and ends up looking like Hitler at his stockholder’s meeting.
• Kruger (Daniel von Bargen)
  First appeared in episode “The Slicer” (1997)
  George’s clueless boss during the final season. This guy was hilarious.
• Mike Moffit (Lee Arenberg)
  First appeard in episode “The Parking Space” (1992)
  Friend of Kramer’s and Jerry’s who argues in the street with George over a parking space for the entire episode. He once told Kramer he thought Jerry was a phony. And, in a later episode, has his thumbs broken by Jerry.

I’ve written before (here, here) about Derek Webb’s newest disc Mockingbird, and of course, I highly recommend it. I heard a while back about this, but had forgotten until I saw something more about it today. Here’s the deal: Webb will be providing Mockingbird for free beginning September 1st. Here’s what he says on the freederekwebb website:

one of the things that excites me most about the future of our business is how easy it is becoming to deliver music to people who want to hear it. i heard a story once about keith green caring so much that people were able to hear and engage with his music that he gave it away for free, which was a very difficult and expensive thing to do at that time. it’s actually never been as simple as it is today to connect music with music fans. and i want people to have a chance to listen to mockingbird and engage in the conversation.

So, in 10 days, Mockingbird will be available for download for free. If you’ve never heard it, you really need to check it out when it’s available. If, like me, you already own the disc, be sure and spread the word to others who don’t so that they can hear it as well. I believe it is an important album that needs to be heard.

The U.S. Open begins in 10 days. College football kicks off in 13 days. I’m very excited about both. After a boring summer mostly filled with baseball (zzzzzz…), Americans all leaving Wimbledon very early, and World Cup soccer (actually, the soccer wasn’t that bad), I’m looking forward to something to watch again. College football is great, and the U.S. Open, as I’ve mentioned before, is my favorite of the grand slams. The next few weeks will be great.

However, my level of excitement will increase exponentially in mid-November when college basketball tips off. It is, in the sports world, what matters to me. I received an email from GoDuke.com yesterday informing me that the Blue Devils schedule for 2006-07 has been released, which I promptly posted on my Duke page. I’m looking forward to another great season for Coach K and the boys. Fortunately, Duke plays in the ACC and, well, they’re Duke, so nearly all of their games are televised. There’s nothing like the sights and sounds of Cameron Crazies. Man, I can’t wait until November.

This year will include another solid non-conference schedule. They’ll be playing in the College Basketball Experience Classic (formerly known as the Guardians Classic) in November, which also includes Marquette, Texas Tech and Stanford. They have repeat dates with Georgetown and Indiana, both of which were very good games last year. This year, though, they’re both at home instead of on the road. Krzyzewski usually schedules some strong “mid-majors”, and this year is no exception with Gonzaga and George Mason coming up in December. GMU is coming off of their Final Four appearance in March, and the Gonzaga game is, unfortunately, one year late. It would’ve been great to see these two teams, led by the two best players in the country in Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick, play last year. But, it should still be a great game.

As for the conference schedule, I immediately noticed that they will be playing Boston College twice this year. They played BC only once in the regular season last year, and then later in the ACC tournament. Both games were great, very close, and could’ve gone either way (both went to Duke) and I expect both games this year to be the same since they’ll both be very good again. BC seems to have become the new Maryland in only one season. Since Maryland has faded a little the last few years, that “rivalry” seems to have as well (at least for Duke fans - Maryland fans’ envy, I mean hatred, still fuels their fire for the “rivalry.”) BC provided two classics last year, so this year’s games will be highly anticipated, second only to the UNC games.

Other tight games last year included Virginia Tech and Florida State (twice), but I noticed they’ll only be playing each of them once this year, both at home. I don’t expect as much trouble from those teams this year.

Now, to my beef with the ACC. Because of the expansion a couple of years ago and the league divisions that it created, Duke is only playing NC State and Wake Forest once each. I hated the general idea of not being able to play every team twice during the regular season after the expansion. The ACC was the only major conference that was still able to do that, but no more. I hate it. But it’s even more annoying that they don’t get to play all three of the other “big four” schools twice. They’ll always play UNC twice - there was now way that was going to be taken away. There would’ve been rioting. However, now they are playing Wake and State only once, and that’s just wrong. Perhaps I shouldn’t complain too much - I’ve already mentioned how great the BC games were last year. Nevertheless, I’d rather have seen the Big East schools stay put and play everyone twice. That’s just the way it shoud be.

Okay, enough ranting. Overall, I like the schedule, and I think they’ll have a great opportunity (despite their youth) to have another excellent season this year. Football and tennis will be great in the meantime, but the real season starts November 12th.

Update:  Mike pointed out - to my shame - that I’d left off Lt. Bookman from this list.  I don’t know how I managed to skip over him, but clearly he deserves to be on this list, and high on it as well.  So, I’ve updated this one to include “the library cop”.

I watched several episodes of Seinfeld Sunday night, and with the purchase yesterday of two tickets to see Jerry live here in Little Rock next month, I was thinking of the show off and on yesterday. I’ve seen several blogs recently with lists of this and that - favorite movies, funniest movies, best actors, etc. So, I decided that leading up to seeing Jerry in a few weeks, I’d publish a weekly Seinfeld list.

I’ve considered three so far, including favorite episodes, favorite recurring characters, and this list - favorite single appearance characters. That’s one for each week prior to the show. I may add one for the week of the show as well - perhaps a favorite moments/scenes, or maybe favorite lines. Those will be hard without sitting down and watching the entire series - which I don’t have time to do, but I’ll see what I can come up with.

So, today is the first list, which consists of my favorite (i.e. the funniest, in my opinion) single appearance characters. These characters only appeared in one episode, other than the series finale, the “100th episode” of clips, or the “Pilot” season finale, all of which included brief appearances of a couple of them. It’s possible I’ve forgotten one or two, but nevertheless, here it is:

Favorite Single Appearance Characters

1. Soup Nazi (Larry Thomas)
   Appeared in episode “The Soup Nazi” (1995)
   The funniest single-appearance character in one of the funniest episodes. Larry Thomas delivers a great performance as the Soup Nazi. He was clearly the best single-appearance guy (although, yes, he did appear in the finale, too, but, of course, I’m not counting that.)
2. Lt. Bookman (Philip Baker Hall)
   Appeared in episode “The Library” (1991)
   Like the Soup Nazi, Hall’s portayal of the “Library Cop” that hassle’s Jerry about an overdue book is an outstanding performance.  I would say it was an unforgettable performance, but obviously I can’t do that now…
3. Tor (Stephen Tobolowsky)
   Appeared in episode “The Heart Attack” (1991)
   An episode and character that some forget about, but I loved Toblosky’s “Tor”, the New Age healer to whom George turns to avoid surgery. He wasn’t quite the Soup Nazi or Lt. Bookman, but he was pretty close in my book.
4. Jimmy (Anthony Starke)
   Appeared in episode “The Jimmy” (1995)
   Jimmy plays basketball with the guys and is known for talking in the third person, which later gets him a date with Elaine (unbeknownst to her). This guy cracked me up.
5. Timmy (Kieran Mulroney)
   Appeared in episode “The Implant” (1993)
   Only on screen for a few minutes, Timmy is the brother of George’s girlfriend Betsy (played by Megan Mullaly) and lectures George on double-dipping his chips, before they come to blows.
6. Aaron (Judge Reinhold)
   Appeared in episode “The Raincoats” (1994)
   The close-talker boyfriend of Elaine who befriends Morty and Helen during one of their visits to New York. I’ve always liked Judge Reinhold and he executed this character perfectly. The scene when he “close-talks” Jerry and Jerry doesn’t back away (as most people do) is hilarious.

Honorable Mentions

• Mel Sanger (Brian Doyle Murray)
  Appeared in episode “The Bubble Boy” (1992)
  I’ve always liked Brian Doyle Murray, who plays Mel Sanger, father of “The Bubble Boy”.
• Raymond the Masseuse (Jeff Lester)
  Appeared in episode “The Note” (1991)
  The man who gave George a massage, during which George later stated, “I think it moved.” He wasn’t particularly funny, but something about that moment when he comes out and introduces himself to George - “George? I’m Raymond.” with that smile on his face (coupled, of course, with George’s reaction) - it always makes me laugh.
• Dan the high talker (Brian Reddy)
  Appeared in episode “The Pledge Drive” (1994)
  The high-talking fiance of Elaine’s friend Noreen, who Kramer later mistakes for someone who has a crush on Jerry.
• Keith Hernandez (himself)
  Appeared in episode “The Boyfriend” (1992)
  This episode will probably be in my list of favorites, and I thought Hernandez did a pretty good job. Most of the humor came from the regulars, but I’ve always liked his appearance.

Next week - favorite recurring characters.